Libby Dowty Named Gatorade's Indiana Girls Cross Country Player of the Year

January 21, 2026 Author: Indian Creek Schools

CHICAGO - In its 41st year of celebrating the nation's best high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Libby Dowty of Indian Creek High School is the 2025-26 Gatorade Indiana Girls Cross Country Player of the Year. She has won this award three straight years.

Gatorade Player of the Year is the top honor in high school sports, celebrating the nation's best high school athletes for their excellence in sport, academics and community. The award recognizes Dowty as Indiana's best high school girls cross country athlete.

The 5-foot-3 senior won the state title this past season, breaking the tape with a time of 17:10.2 to clinch her third Gatorade Player of the Year award in cross country. Dowty also took fifth at the Brooks XC Midwest Regional Championships and 17th at the NXN Midwest Regional Championships to earn All-Region honors at both meets, marking the sixth time she's received such recognition from the nation's two premier postseason events. At Brooks nationals, she crossed the line 16th, missing Third Team All-American status by less than four seconds. She finished the season ranked No. 31 in the national DyeStat 100.

A devoted member of her church community, Dowty has volunteered locally as part of multiple community service initiatives in association with her parish. She has also donated her time as an assistant to her school's athletic director, as a youth running and wrestling coach and with a student group that delivers uplifting messaging to her school community.

"Libby Dowty makes it three Gatorade awards in a row and she deserves it," said Rich Gonzalez of PrepCalTrack. "She proved again that she's one of the top talents in the Midwest and concluded her prep distance career as a two-time state champion and six-time All-Region honoree."

Libby was also recently crowned the 110-pound IHSAA State Girls Wrestling Champion. 

"With her third state title - two in cross country and one in wrestling, along with being named the IHSAA 2025 Girls Cross Country Mental Attitude Award winner, Libby is one of the most decorated and distinguished female athletes in Indiana history," said Derek Perry, athletic director at Indian Creek.

Dowty has maintained a weighted 4.44 GPA in the classroom. She has signed a written letter of athletic aid to run at the University of Louisville this fall.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one state winner in 12 sports from each of the 50 states and Washington, D.C. In total, 610 high school athletes are honored each year.

From the pool of state winners, one national winner is selected in each of the 12 sports. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the winners in each sport.

As part of Gatorade's commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $6.4 million in grants to winners across more than 2,200 organizations.